Round 19 - August 8th - Cranberry Village, Collingwood, Ontario - 25 degrees sunny w/ clouds, sun showers
It was so nice to be back at Cranberry Village in Collingwood, Ontario. Not only is it a beautiful setting in the shadow of the Blue Mountains on the shores of Georgian Bay but it's also where my parents have been living for the past 17 years. I usually get down to see them once a year and they usually get down to Ottawa once a year. Whenever we get together, we usually get in at least two sometimes three rounds. My parents spend their winters in Florida and I usually get down there once a year. So between the three rendezvous' we average about 7 rounds a year and out of the 7 rounds my dad usually wins 6 of the rounds and he's 82 years old. Exactly 40 years older than I am to the day.

This round at Cranberry has a very special meaning to me because my parents are leaving to go and live in Nova Scotia. So this may be the last round at Cranberry. Cranberry is a tough course. A lot tougher than its ratings of 70.7 off the blues and 68.5 off the whites with respective slopes of 128 and 121. The course runs for 6353 yards off the blues and 5931 off the whites. Quite long. I've never been able to play very well here, and today would be no exception.

We both started off badly with my dad taking a 7 and me a 6. I got off a great drive on the 500 yard #5, drawing the ball 270 yards to the center of the fairway. I made a great lay up putting the ball down at the 100 marker. I duffed my third to end up 40 yards short of the green just inside the hazard stakes but not in the water. Instead of taking a drop I did the Van De Veld, took off my shoes and socks and took a stance in the water. I proceeded to chip the ball into the water. I took a drop and chipped the next one into the water. I took a second drop and chipped on over the green. A finally chipped on and two putted for an 11! Ouch! I took a quad bogey on #7 and went out with a 58 to my dad's 50.

The back 9 started off great with a 240 yard 3w drive straight down the 474 yard par 5 10th. I ended up parring the hole with dad taking a 6. I parred the 11th and the 13th and played well up until the 18th. I had left the driver in the bag on the back until the 18th. Why not? I hocked one o.b. took three off the tee duffed a fairway drive and ended up taking a 9 to come in with a 48 for a gross of 106. Dad ... what can I say ... he beat me again! Coming in with a 46 for a gross of 96 my adjusted score was 101. I hit 6 fairways, and only one green, and took 34 putts to my dad's 7 fairways and 27 putts. Tomorow's another day!